Means for use in curling hair



Patented Jan. 24, 1939 UNITEDSTATES PxraNTk OFFICE Abbie G. Bowyer,Santa Monica, Calif. Application October 19, 1937, Serial No. 169,821

' 8 Claims.

This invention relates tothe art of hair curling and particularly tomeans upon which hair tresses may be Wound and then, while still Woundabout the said means, be dried with little or no discomfort to thepatron. Many Women, particularly those who are employed throughout theday, curl their hairA before retiring at night. In doing so they dividethe hair into a plurality of tresses and, after moistening each tress,Wind it upon a suitable device which is adapted to hold it fromunwinding while it is drying. When so held and dried, the tress retainsits curled condition. But, unless special drying apparatus be at handand employed, considerable time is required to dry the curls. Many Womencurl their own hair as above dscribed and then retire for the night,depending upon the hair to dry While they sleep. But the individualcurlers with the tresses wound upon them form knots or bumps which aresources of much discomfort to the person and greatly disturb her rest.My invention comprises not only a suitable device upon which the tressesare curled but a pad which is so constructed and disposed between thecurler and the Wearers head as to form a cushion which relieves thewearer of substantially all discomfort.

Any suitable form of curler may be employed in combination with my padand any suitable soft and iiexible material may be employed in makingthe pad or cushion. I have successfully and satisfactorilyemployeddifferent materials, particularly felt and sponge rubber. For commercialreasons I prefer sponge rubber and so have indicated that material inthe accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of mypreferred form of pad, the slot in which is shown in dotted lines, and asuitable form of curler upon which a tress of hair is wound, and

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 2 there is shown at I0 a portion of the scalp from which thereis gathered a tress, II, of hair, the same being dampened as iscustomary. This tress is wound in the usual manner, upon a suitabledevice shown, generally, at I2, suitable means being provided forholding the wound tress from uncurling. Since the curler indicated isnot, per se, a part of my invention, any suitable curler being adaptedfor use therein, a fuller description thereof is deemed unnecessary.'Ihat shown is a commercial curler of the air-drying type and bears thePatent Numbers 2,000,893 and 2,000,894, to which reference may be madefor a detailed description if desired. A`

complete job of hair curling requires many curlers like or similar tothat shown. As will be appreciated from Fig. 2, the curlers with theirtresses wound thereon project some distance from the scalp I0. Theseform a considerable number of knots or bumps on the head of the user andare the source of much discomfort when she lies on them. To overcomethis discomfort, I provide a pad I3 for each curler, the same comprisinga sheet of suitable soft and flexible material of sufficient thicknessto form a cushion between the curler and the scalp. As stated, differentmaterials may be employed in making the pad although, for commercialreasons, I prefer and so have indicated sponge rubber. The outer contourof the pad may be varied, but again I have shown my preferred form,` thesame having rounded ends and straight side edges.

Extending longitudinally of the pad and centrally positioned therein isa slot I4 through which the tress I I extends when the pad ispositioned, as best shown in Fig. 2. The slot terminates at both of itsends well within the ends of the pad, as shown in dotted lines in Fig.I, being shorter than the curler I 2 so that the latter projects at itsends beyond the slot. The slot is of substantial width and its ends arerounded, as shown in dotted lines in Fig, 1. These rounded ends lessenthe liability of the rubber to tear when it is stretched over thecurlers.

After the tress is wound upon the curler, the pad is applied bythrusting one end of the curler through the slot, then pulling the padtoward that end until the slot is in position to receive the rest of thecurler. After the entire length of the curler has been passed throughthe slot, the pad is drawn backwardly toward the first mentioned end ofthe curler until the latter is symmetrically positioned over the slot.In that position, the ends of the curler overlap the pad beyond the endsof the slot and the curler holds the pad from unintentionaldisplacement.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A means for curling hair which comprises a device upon which the hairis curled, and a pad of soft and flexible material interposed betweenthe said device and the head of the wearer, said pad having a slotthrough which the device with the hair curled thereon may be passed, thepad thus constituting a 4cushion upon which the wearer may lie While thehair is drying.

2. A means for curling hair as set forth in claim 1 in which the pad iscomposed of sponge rubber.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a pad adapted to be interposedbetween a dry curler and the head of a wearer of said curler; said padcomprising an elongated sponge-rubber body provided with a central slot,the sides of the body and slot being stretchable transversely to passover a dry curler positioned on the head of the wearer.

4. The combination with a. dry curler around which hair is curled on thehead of the wearer, of a cushioning and moisture protecting pad 'oapproximately the overall width and length of the curl and curler havingmeans for interpose ing the same between the head of the wearer and thedry curler when the latter is in position on the head with the haircurled thereon.

5. A means for curling hair as set forth in claim 1 in which the saidslot extends longitudinally substantially midway between the side edgesof the pad and has its ends nearer the longitudinal center of the padthan are the ends of the said device, whereby the ends of the deviceoverlap one side of the pad beyond the ends of the slot, as and for thepurpose specied.

6. A means for curling hair as set forth in claim 1 in which the pad iselongated and has its ends rounded, as specified.

7. A means for curling hair which comprises a device upon which the hairis curled, and a pad of sponge rubber interposed between the said deviceandthe head of the wearer, said pad having a slot through which thedevice with the hair curled thereon may be passed, the slot being ofsubstantial width and having its ends rounded, the pad thus constitutinga cushion upon which the wearer vmay lie while the hair is drying.

8. 'I'he combination with a dry curler around which hair is curled onthe head of the wearer, of a cushioning pad having means for interposingthe same between the head of the wearer and the dry curler when thelatter is in position on the head with the hair curled thereon.

ABBIE G. BOWYER.

